1964 Buick Skylark Convertible - Turbo LS6 Swap Build

This is awesome great work and motivation for my 65!

 

Fronts floors are getting close to being done.



Sweet fitment of aftermarket offshore sheetmetal...



Maybe it would be easier to swap to Fred Flintstone power?

 

Well....$hit just got real....

Picked up a forged 383 LS shortblock for the Buick....built for boost. Figured it was for the best to sell the LS6 while it was still all in one piece and worth something. lol

K1 4340 forged stroker crank
K1 forged H-beam rods
Wiseco pistons and rings
ARP Everything
Clevite bearings

 

Progress stalled a little bit as my wife and I had birthday stuff to do with our son and daughter, and I was also thrashing to get my own hot-rod ready for a big road trip I took with my buddys a couple weeks ago. Said roadtrip got me fired up to do some more work on the buick.


Turbos arrived!! They are Borg-Warner S360. T4 flange, 60mm compressor with a 68 mm turbine, and a .90 A/R. Should light up real fast on this 383, and make around 800 whp when turned up.

 

Progress has been slow for 2 reasons:

- Crazy busy summer
- I hate doing sheetmetal repair.

Finally got the trans tunnel modded and fabbed up to where I'm happy with the clearance around the 4L80E. What a pain...

 

I'm considering a "simple" 5.3/4L60e swap in my 61 Special and you're showing what I've been dreading. :ball:
Nice work on the sheet metal...what about carpet?
-Jason

 

Re: Project VerTTigo - 1964 Buick Skylark Turbo LS Convertible

Wow, that's some serious sheet metal patchwork!

 

the 4l60e will be alot easier.

 

Trans tunnel done, welded, ground smooth.








Decided to do solid motor mounts. Had my buddy make some aluminum inserts for the motor mounts to replace the poly bushings. I'll try to dig up some pics.






Playing around with where to locate the turbos. Lots of room up in the fender tips, but might try to get them moved back a bit to simplify the plumbing.

 

I say keep them tight to the engine, are you doing a dual in single out intercooler? I am happy with how simple the plumbing is on mine. Each turbo is infront of the head and then the boost pipes go forward in front the rad to the intercooler and then back up the top of the intercooler into the carb.

 

i almost want a ls over my nailhead but i have so much sunk into parts already.

 

I would mount them up front to looks better to see the pipes stretching out and back. Awesome turbo choice btw, I still need to get with Reed on a BW for my 3.8 build. You gonna have a handful there man.

 

Ok, made a little more progress on this drawn out project. lol.

Started working on the turbo headers, beginning with the collectors.

Cutting the 304 stainless to length.



Cut, cleaned up, beveled, and ready to go.





Saw fixture





Not bad for my first try





I'm happy with the internal fit-up





Tacked together





Finished product is pretty close to what I modeled in Creo. Modeling it helped me figure out the exact cut angles and position to get stuff how I wanted...huge time saver.

 

Started out with some simple water cut header flanges, but wanted some steps in them for positively locating the primaries around the ports, so I bored some steps.













Had been putting off starting on the trunk floor replacement...but in the words of the wise buddy of mine, "Sometimes you just gotta start cutting". So I did.








Spot welds ground and rust neutralizer in the supports where the media blaster won't get to.

 

Really nice fabrication work this is looking awesome!

 

Yes, very nice work! Don't be discouraged in keeping us updated because not many people are responding to your thread, they are probably in awe of the attention to detail of the work you're are doing. So by all means keeps posting as more progress is made, thanks for sharing.


Derek

 

Most of us are not responding only because we don't know what to say after "far out" except "more!"

What, pray tell, are you going to do with the 300 that came out? With the aluminum heads and manifold, that makes a great not-too-heavy V-8 swap for an MGB. Or parts for a stroker Buick 215.

 

Yes I know I am watching closely. Many of us may not have the tools or skills to fabricate like you are doing but it sure is cool to watch you do your thing!

 

Thanks guys. I'm an engineer by trade, so documenting what I do is part of my nature. It's nice to have the project condensed in one place, chronologically. I'm not worried about positive feedback...I've been on forums long enough, I know how it goes
But thank you nonetheless.

Right now I'm doing the easy stuff...I'll really need help from you guys when it comes time to put this thing back together for the Buick specific, and a-body specific knowledge :laugh:

 

Sold it on craigslist to a guy with a 65 Skylark.